Inquest opens on diver's death

6:51am Thursday 15th May 2008

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THE supervisor of a canal lock-draining operation which led to the death of diver David Moore told an inquest yesterday it was only the second project of its kind he had ever undertaken.

Mr Moore, 29, a professional diver, of Victoria Grove, Southsea, Hants, became trapped under the lock during the operation and died.

Yesterday, an eight day inquest into the tragedy got under way with the 11 jurors being taken to the scene of the incident to see the lock and canal at Upper Lode, Tewkesbury.

Four divers, including Mr Moore, were taking part in the work.

Later British Waterways maintenance supervisor Richard Rowles told the jury he had been employed in his job for more than two years before the incident but it had been only his second 'dewatering' project.

His only experience of locks prior to the incident was with a smaller lock in Somerset where no divers were involved, he said.

Mr Rowles told the jury it was his decision during the diving to remove a key so that the electric lock gates could not be opened.

"Did you give any thought to the need for urgent closing of those gates?" the Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore asked him.

"I don't recall," he replied.

The key which could have been used in the emergency was instead in the lock keeper's pocket, the jury heard.

The Upper Lode Lock project was to facilitate principal inspection (the highest level undertaken by British Waterways on a five or ten yearly basis) and would require full dewatering, he told the jury.

He said the lock needed to be de-sealed to enable inspection and repairs.

The last inspection took place in 1993, Mr Rowles told the inquest, but he had not seen the report on it.

"We were aware of the stress at the downstream end of the lock because as part of our length inspection process, which is monthly, any change was monitored and they were aware there was cracking at the lower end," he said.

Mr Rowles said he was not aware of any stress at the upstream end - the section the inquest is focusing on.

He explained that the seal was created with oakham (untwisted rope fibres saturated in an oily substance) and was then enclosed in a hessian sausage'..

As the outer dam came to the floor of the lock, the seal would mould itself to the floor.

This seal was only to deal with minor imperfections, he said. The divers were there to find major ones.

The outer and inner dams combined weighed about 12 tonnes, he told the inquest. This would help compress the hessian sausage and mould it to minor undulations on the lock floor.

Some leaks had occurred prior to the project's commencement, Mr Rowles said.

Mr Rowles said he had arrived at the lock about 6am on October 15 2004 and saw the pumps were running and draining the lock as required.

He was not at the upstream dam when Mr Moore died but received a call on his mobile phone from the site's safety rep alerting him that "there was an issue with the divers at the top end."

The coroner asked Mr Rowles if there were concerns about the welfare of divers upstream when the pressure differential was so great.

"No," he replied. "At the time, no."

"Did you think if the divers entered the water at such a differential, there was a risk of death?" asked the coroner.

"I wasn't aware of that, no."

Mr Rowles denied there was any time pressure to get the maintenance done before the school holidays began that year.

"There was an original timetable but that was extended when issues at the lower end were encountered so it appeared flexible," he said.

The jury was shown the structure of the dam - how the dam framework had been placed and then another piece slotted into the middle. The temporary dam was lowered into the barge by crane.

Yesterday the eleven jurors were kitted out in lifejackets as they were guided around the Lock to inspect the area about which they will be hearing so much during the coming week.

Detective Inspector Simon Atkinson of Cheltenham police set the scene for the jurors.

"You can see the flow of the river and the size of the lock and you should remember it was a construction site at the time so there would have been people running around doing things preparing to do an inspection," he said.

The jury were told by coroner's officer Peter Hobday that Mr Moore's body had been identified by his father Alick at Cheltenham General Hospital on October 14, 2004. He was 29.

The Coroner gave the jury a brief summary of the case they are to hear.

He said that the deceased was working in the water as part of a team of four divers as they sought to carry out maintenance on the Upper Lode Lock at Tewkesbury more than three years ago.

The aim of the work was to turn the locks so as to expose the walls and floors so the water could be pumped out.

The inquest, at Cheltenham's Manor by the Lake, is expected to last until Friday next week.